Pages

June 11, 2008

Eliot Asinof, Dead at 88

Eliot Asinof, who died yesterday at age 88, was best known for "Eight Men Out", his book about the 1919 White Sox scandal, but he also wrote more than a dozen other books, including the 1955 baseball novel "Man on Spikes".

Asinof was a minor league first baseman for the Phillies in the arly 1940s before joining the Army. He wrote for television and movies in the 1950s, but was blacklisted by the FBI because he had "signed a petition outside of Yankee Stadium to encourage the New York Yankees to hire black ballplayers."

Asinof was also a pianist, sculptor and carpenter. A few weeks ago, he finished a memoir of his World War II service. That book, as well as a novel, will be published later this year.

He wrote for television and movies in the 1950s, but was blacklisted by the FBI because he had "signed a petition outside of Yankee Stadium to encourage the New York Yankees to hire black ballplayers."

Asinof was also a pianist, sculptor and carpenter.

Clearly a very multi-talented man - and someone with moral backbone, too. I loved Eight Men Out, the book as well as the John Sayles movie.